Comparative environmental impact assessment of herbicides used on genetically modified and non-genetically modified herbicide-tolerant canola crops using two risk indicators.

Canola (Brassica napus L.) is the third largest field crop in Australia by area sown. Genetically modified (GM) and non-GM canola varieties released or being developed in Australia include Clearfield® (imidazolinone tolerant), TT (triazine tolerant), InVigor® (glufosinate-ammonium tolerant), Roundup Ready® - RR® (glyphosate tolerant) and Hyola® RT® (tolerant to both glyphosate and triazine). We used two risk assessment approaches - the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) and the Pesticide Impact Rating Index (PIRI) - to compare the environmental risks associated with herbicides used in the canola varieties (GM and non-GM) that are currently grown or may be grown in the future. Risk assessments found that from an environmental impact viewpoint a number of herbicides used in the production of TT canola showed high relative risk in terms of mobility and ecotoxicity of herbicides. The EIQ field use rating values for atrazine and simazine in particular were high compared with those for glyphosate and trifluralin. Imazapic and imazapyr, which are only used in Clearfield® canola, had extremely low EIQ field use rating values, likely reflecting the very low application rates used for these chemicals (0.02 to 0.04kg/ha) compared with those used for atrazine and simazine (1.2 to 1.5kg/ha). The PIRI assessment showed that irrespective of the canola variety grown, trifluralin posed a high toxicity risk to fish (Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss), algae and Daphnia sp. While the replacement of trifluralin with propyzamide had little effect on the mobility score, it greatly decreased the ecotoxicity score to fish, algae and Daphnia sp. due to the lower LC50 values for propyzamide compared with trifluralin. This study has shown that based on likelihood of off-site transport of herbicides in surface water and potential toxicity to non-target organisms, the GM canola varieties have no advantage over non-herbicide tolerant (non HT) or Clearfield® canola.

Soil factors controlling the toxicity of copper and zinc to microbial processes in Australian soils.

Abstract-Two soil microbial processes, substrate-induced nitrification (SIN) and substrate-induced respiration (SIR), were measured in the topsoils of 12 Australian field trials that were amended separately with increasing concentrations of ZnSO4 or CuSO4. The median effect concentration (EC50) values for Zn and Cu based on total metal concentrations varied between 107 and 8,298 mg kg(-1) for Zn and 108 and 2,155 mg kg(-1) Cu among soils. The differences in both Zn and Cu toxicity across the 12 soils were not explained by either the soil solution metal concentrations or CaCl2-extractable metal concentrations, because the variation in the EC50 values was larger than those using total concentrations. Toxicity of Zn and Cu decreased with increasing soil pH for SIN. For Cu, also increasing cation exchange capacity (CEC) and percent clay decreased the toxicity towards SIN. In contrast to SIN, soil pH had no significant effect on toxicity values of SIR. Significant relationships were found between the EC50 values for SIR and background Zn and CEC for Zn, and percent clay and log CEC for Cu. Relationships such as those developed in this study will permit Australian environmental regulation to move from single-value national soil quality guidelines to soil-specific quality guidelines and permit soil-specific risk assessments to be undertaken.